In only his second career start, Maerz (1-0) kept the Huskies off balance all day as he struck out a career-high seven. Entering his final inning of work in the fifth due to a pitch count, Maerz struck out all three hitters he faced.

Mike Kozlowski paced a 14-hit attack as he went 4-for-5 with three doubles and four RBIs. Brandon Eggenschwiler added three hits and drove in a run. All nine hitters in the lineup finished with at least one hit.

The Breds (7-9) got on the board in the first inning as Ty Stetson doubled just inside the bag at first to extend his hit streak to seven games. After moving to third on a groundout, Eggenschwiler plated Stetson with a single into left field.

MSU manufactured a run in the second as Ben Lott walked on four pitches and went to second on sacrifice bunt from Nick Paradossi. A Greg Guest single to left put runners on the corners, Stetson delivered an RBI groundout to second base.

The Breds extended the lead in the fourth as Paradossi delivered a solo home run to right field to lead off the inning. Guest and Taylor Mathews each drew walks, before coming around to score on a Kozlowski double off the base of the fence in right field.

The offense continued in the sixth as the top of the order helped push across another run.

NIU (2-13) finally got on the board in the seventh inning as a fielding error, single and hit by pitch loaded the bases with one out. After a strikeout, Micah McCulloch drew a four-pitch walk to score the runner from third.

The Breds got the run back in eighth as Eggenschwiler singled to right center and went to second on the error by the center fielder. Kozlowski followed with an RBI double, his third of the day, to left center.

Sheldon Baxter tossed two innings of relief, allowing an unearned run, on one hit and two strikeouts. John Rafferty did not allow a hit in his two innings of work.

Bobby Kuntzendorf (0-1) took the loss after allowing five runs on five hits and five walks over 3.1 innings.

The two teams will play the second game of the midweek series today afternoon at 3 p.m.

SurfKY NewsInformation provided by John BrushGraphics provided by SurfKY Graphics